Once in a great while I "stumble" onto a shed. It feels like a treasure since they are pretty rare finds in the dense wilderness of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

“Shed Horns O’plenty This Spring”, I Hope.

Well it’s almost that time of year again. A few deer have dropped their horns, and others will soon. The elk are still a ways out from loosing theirs, but I might as well get the legs back into shape looking for deer sheds, winter kills and maybe scout out where a few bulls are spending their winter.
I really enjoy my late Winter and Spring shed hunting trips. It gives me an excuse (as if I need one) to explore new ground, burn off winter fat, spend time with friends and family, and get a feel for what game made it through the winter. I also tie it in with other activities in the spring such as mushroom picking, bear hunting, and turkey hunting. For you dog owners out there you might even try and train your pup to find horns, most dogs take to it fairly quickly, it’s a great way to spend time with man’s best friend.
Last year I had a great season of shed hunting. It started with my buddy having sharp eyes, and finding the nice 4 point set in the photo above right from the road. I ended up finding many nice Whitetail sheds, and a nice 320 Elk set. I found one side with my young cousin while chasing a Tom Turkey, and 3 trips later managed to find the opposite side.
One great thing about shed horns, is all the things you can do with them. You can sell them for some cash, decorate with them, use them in craft projects, etc……. A friend of mine who is a taxidermist suggested mounting my elk sheds on a synthetic skull. The finished result was much nicer than I had imagined, and now it graces my living room wall.
As with any outdoor pursuit, the more you go, the more proficient you become. Over the years you learn which areas are more productive for finding sheds, and you train your eyes to pick up on that glint of horn in the jumble of vegetation. With shed hunting even first timers and little kids can be successful. It just takes a determination to walk the hills, and a keen eye. Just be careful though, because after you find a couple sheds, you may develop an addiction to Horn Hunting.

A few pointers for first time shed horn hunters.

1. Use good binos and/or spotting scopes. You can canvas a lot of open ground quickly with good glass.

2. Wear good waterproof boots. Horn hunting is a pursuit where “He who walks farthest and longest wins” holds true. Ground you cover = number of horns you find.

3. Cut banks of roads, fence lines, and along other obstacles are great palces in which to locate sheds. The impact of jumping over obstacles can jar a loose horn off.

4. If you find a large deer or elk shed, chances are the other side is close by. The imbalance created by loosing one horn causes large horned animals to attempt to break off remaining horn sooner than those with small horns. Canvas the nearby area, only thing better than a shed, is a shed set.

5. When going down steep hillsides check the uphill side of large logs for kills, especially in the bottom of draws where ridges come together. Wounded and distressed animals tend to go down hill and often die or are caught by predators on the uphill side of large logs.

6. Go slow, and methodically cover the ground with your eyes. Nothing better than finding a horn your buddy just stepped over.

7. You tend to find a lot of horns in places where you start to feel like you should turn around because you’ve gone to far. If you are in a spot where you think no one would be ambitious enough to go, then that’s where you need to be.

8. Keep an eye on the game and the snow levels during the winter. This way you will know where the largest amount of game was concentrated when they lost their horns.

9. Get a buddy who doesn’t like to hike, but loves to drive around the woods to go with you. In our area you can cover a lot more ground by not having to double back to your vehicle, and instead have a ride waiting on thru hikes.

10. Train your dog to bring horns to you. Give them horns to play fetch with as a pup, then they will naturally start picking them up as they find them in the woods.

11. Have Fun…………………….

I have found pieces of sheds along a wet bottom in hard woods. But my uncle found one last hunting season by mistake. He turned his dogs out they ran through a wet bottom and ran out two of the biggest bucks ever seen in this part of SC. They ran up a hillside and on out where one was killed. His dogs stopped when the deer was killed and back tracked back to him. He went to where the dogs went in and was waiting on the dogs when OOPS he found the shed off of the deer that was just killed. We compared the shed to the antlers of the deer, one and the same. Only difference the shed was just a couple of inches smaller.

Went and visited a unit of regen I had planted in 1984.Beautiful stand of young timber coming on.On average,10 inches in diameter and saw a lot of 12 inch Doug fir also. Not only rewarded with the satisfaction of successful reforestation,but while walking down a haul road thru the unit,I was rewarded with finding a nice 6 point Roosevelt bull elk shed.Very recent,as there was some blood still on the side coming from the skull. Good day all around!

what is shed hunting?